Imagine the scene. You are huddled together with fellow members of the so-called metropolitan liberal elite. Perhaps you are an opinion-former wondering how to make some sense of the past 12 months. Things started to go a little askew in May 2015 when, despite austerity, Labour under Ed Miliband had its worst general election performance since Michael Foot in 1983 and the Tories under David Cameron won an outright majority.
Things really went wrong, however, this year. Until 2016 populists were the heroes of the liberal intelligentsia, left-wing champions of the poor and dispossessed against the cruelty inflicted upon them by the Gradgrind politicians and the bankers.
There was, for these people, much to admire in the tilting against windmills of populists such as Alexis Tsipras of Greece’s Syriza party, notwithstanding the damage he has inflicted on the Greek people, and Pablo Iglesias, leader of Spain’s Podemos party. In America Bernie Sanders, a left-wing populist, moved Hillary Clinton to the left against free trade.
Meanwhile, the Momentum organisation propelled the radical Jeremy Corbyn to power in the Labour Party. Now, for the liberal left, populism has become a dirty word. The populism of the right is blamed for the election of Donald Trump in America and all other modern ills. The “wrong” people are having their say.
Although populists on the left have always twisted facts to suit their case, Mr Trump’s election is seen as a unique exercise in “post-truth” politics, a triumph for the populist right, based either on outright lies or denying basic truths and extreme right-wing policies. The actor Michael Sheen, famous for his performances and for powerful speeches defending the NHS, said in an interview with The Times yesterday that he intended to enter grassroots politics to fight the rise of the “hard populist right”.
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For the Trump victory, on this view, read Britain’s vote for Brexit. The only comfort from the referendum result for some on the liberal left is that it has provided an opportunity to rehash old arguments about Tory “cuts” and those “left behind” by globalisation.
The reality is it showed them to be out of touch with most of the country. Condemning genuine concerns about the impact of immigration and a loss of sovereignty as right-wing populism underlined how far out of touch the liberal left has become. In fact, neither “leave” voters nor their leaders showed any appetite for Trump-style protectionist rhetoric.
Then there is the issue of Russia’s cyber- warfare and propaganda and the conclusion of the CIA that President Vladimir Putin was personally involved in the Russian-led hacking campaign in America’s presidential election.
For those who connived in and in some cases provided a platform for Julian Assange and WikiLeaks and the former US National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden, a guest of Russia since 2013, the realisation is slowly dawning that these jolly japes have consequences and often those consequences play into the hands of Mr Putin.
Damaging the security apparatus of America and Britain was good sport, apparently, but hacking takes on a different and more sinister perspective when it might have helped to deprive the world of the presidency of their heroine, Hillary Clinton. We have also complained of her ally President Barack Obama’s failure to stand up to international bullies. Sometimes you reap what you sow.
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We live in a complex world. One person’s populism is another’s genuine concern. We should be careful with labels in 2017.